


learning to fall

by Nana



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: First Kiss, M/M, Pre-DBZ
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2019-10-01
Packaged: 2020-11-08 22:34:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20843114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nana/pseuds/Nana
Summary: When he was 23 years old, Yamcha learned to fly.





	learning to fall

**Author's Note:**

> i'm back on my bullshit. hope you enjoy <3

When he was 23 years old, Yamcha learned to fly. 

"Man, I can't believe Krillin learned the flying technique without saying anything, the little _weasel_," he said on a hot summer day. It was the last day they would all be spending together at Kamehouse, and Launch had decided to prepare a big dinner to celebrate Goku's victory against Piccolo Jr. and the world not ending. 

Tien stopped sipping his drink at his comment and put it down on the table. "I could teach you." 

"What, really?" 

"Yeah, there's nothing to it," he said. "Although it might be beyond your capabilities, turtle trash." 

"Only if you're a shitty teacher, crane bastard," Yamcha said with a smirk, and it was on. 

No one seemed to mind their absence much when they got out of the house. Tien had Yamcha walk with him towards the edge of the island, and told him to take off his shoes and shirt.

“Why, do you wanna see me naked that badly?” Yamcha joked. 

“No, you _idiot_. I’m going to have you practice over the water because you’re probably going to fall a couple of times,” Tien explained, face flushed. “If you want your clothes to get wet, be my guest.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Yamcha said, and did as he was told. 

“You know how to focus your ki on a single point in your body, right? Like when you do your spirit ball?” Tien said, and Yamcha nodded. 

“Well, the flying technique works kind of like that, but instead of focusing your ki on a single point, you push it downwards so it lifts you up from the floor.”

“Alright! Let me try.”

“Wait!” Tien said before Yamcha could do anything. “If you do it all at once you’ll shoot up with a blast and you won’t be able to break your fall.”

“But...”

“Trust me,” Tien said, and moved in just a little bit closer. “Just close your eyes and listen to my voice.”

Tien pushed Yamcha’s hair behind his ear. Yamcha suppressed a gasp, and closed his eyes. 

“Take a deep breath…" Tien said in a low, deep voice. "Now, imagine you’ve fallen to the bottom of the ocean. You can see the sun rays coming from the surface right above you. What do you do?”

“I…” Yamcha said, “I try to swim up?”

“No,” Tien whispered softly into his ear. “It’s too far. You’ll run out of air and energy and you’ll sink back down. So, what do you do?”

“I… don’t know,” Yamcha admitted, frustrated. 

“It’s okay, I’ll tell you,” Tien said reassuringly. “If you let yourself fall down to the very bottom, all you have to do is push yourself up with a kick, and your momentum will carry you halfway up," Tien explained. “Now, picture doing that, but instead of kicking off the ground just redirect your energy to your lower body.”

Yamcha did, and he could feel his ki gathering beneath his palms and feet, but… 

“Tien, nothing's happening,” he said, exasperated. 

“Really? You might want to open your eyes.”

He did, and realized he was hovering a few inches above the ground. “Holy shit!” Yamcha exclaimed, and promptly fell onto his ass.

“See?” Tien said as he helped him up. “Nothing to it. Let’s try again.”

After a couple more tries of Yamcha levitating above the ground with varying degrees of success, Tien flew away from the island and over the ocean. “Now, try to reach me!”

“What!? No way,” Yamcha said from the shore. “You’re too high up!”

“Don’t be afraid!” Tien said over the crashing waves. “Just close your eyes and follow my voice! I’ll start counting!”

Yamcha took a deep breath to calm himself down and closed his eyes. Tien was counting past ten already when Yamcha felt himself take off the ground with more force than he’d planned to. He opened his eyes and saw Tien as a tiny speck staring at him from below, wide-eyed. 

He was going to fall. 

“YAMCHA!” Tien yelled, and launched himself at him to try and stop his fall, but he was too far away, and Yamcha knew he wouldn’t be able to reach him in time. 

Yamcha was aware of this, but somehow, he didn’t panic.

He let himself fall, his body drifting down and his hair moving wildly in the wind. 

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and just at the last second he let his ki flow thought him, slowly, gently, and when he opened his eyes again he realized he was face-up and floating slightly off the ground. All he could see was the bright blue sky above him, and Tien’s worried face as he hovered on top of him. 

“God, Yamcha, that was _too_ close,” Tien said. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Yamcha said, suddenly realizing he hadn’t touched the ground yet. “Holy shit, Tien. I’m _flying_,” he said as he raised himself even further from the ground and reversed their positions. “I’m flying!”

“Woohoo!” Yamcha took off again, euphoric, but it was far from graceful. It felt like learning how to walk again, and he stumbled and rolled in the air as he tried to stay afloat. Tien stayed close to him in case he lost control again, but Yamcha’s enthusiasm was contagious and soon they were laughing together and spiraling into each other like butterflies in spring. 

They soon left the little island behind to fly over the ocean, racing each other. Yamcha was flying low and touching the water with one hand, and when Tien caught up to him he splashed him right in the face. “Too slow, Triclops!”

“Come back here!” Tien said with a laugh, eager to exact his revenge. He accelerated and tackled Yamcha in the middle of the air, and they soon the catapulted forward into a nearby beach. They wrestled each other in the sand, kicking and rolling all in good fun until they ran out of breath. 

“All right, all right, you win this one,” Tien said when Yamcha pinned him down into the sand. 

“Hell yeah I do,” Yamcha said with a laugh. 

They both smiled at each other, jittery from the adrenalin high. Yamcha wanted to say something funny, a stupid joke to relieve the tension, anything, but he hesitated a moment too long, suddenly realizing how close they were. His hair was down; a curtain that separated them from the rest of the world, and all he could see was Tien's warm smile and the soft look in his eyes. The euphoria he had felt moments earlier bubbled up again in his chest, fueling his body to move forward almost on its own accord, and Yamcha closed the distance between them with a touch of his lips.

It was almost as if time had slowed down. That kiss was the culmination of years of admiration and silent affection, of searching looks and lingering touches. It was the realization of how deeply Yamcha's feelings ran, like hidden veins of gold. Tien was someone Yamcha had grown to admire from the moment he'd been willing to put his life on the line not once, but multiple times, to do the right thing. They'd been training side by side for years— unlikely friends and rivals seemingly bound together by the red thread of fate. 

Kissing Tien felt like the natural thing to do, and yet… 

"Shit, I'm _sorry_," Yamcha said, pulling back as he realized his mistake. What the hell was he _thinking_? Tien would probably hate him forever now, not to mention Bulma would be absolutely _furious_. 

Before he could pull back all the way he felt Tien's hands come up to his cheeks, light as a feather, tracing the scars on his face. 

"Yamcha…" Tien said softly, and pulled him in for another kiss.

All traces of doubt vanished from his head. Yamcha felt like a spark had gone off inside of him, lighting everything up. Tien’s touch and gentle lips suddenly felt like fire, and he wanted more. 

Yamcha deepened the kiss, parting his lips and sucking on Tien’s lower lip as he straddled his lap. Tien groaned in response, and his feather-light touches became more aggressive, grabbing and pulling. Tien’s hands roamed freely over Yamcha’s naked chest, and when he brushed over one of his nipples Yamcha couldn’t help the whimper that escaped his lips. 

Tien sat up abruptly, grabbing the back of Yamcha’s head with one hand and his lower back with the other to keep him sitting on his lap. Yamcha could feel a thrill going up his spine at the novelty of being manhandled so easily, and he found himself grinding against him. Tien ran his fingers through Yamcha’s inky locks and _pulled_, bringing him in for a searing kiss. Yamcha felt all traces of coherent thought leaving his head right then; it was all too much and yet, not enough. He pulled back after a while to suck an open-mouthed kiss on Tien’s neck, and started kissing his way up to his ear to nibble on his earlobe. 

“Ah!” Yamcha moaned when Tien’s hand moved from his lower back to his ass in an attempt to pull him closer, and _squeezed_. All he could do was rub himself against Tien as he clung to him desperately, all he could focus on was the feeling of skin against skin as he trembled, and all he could say was a litany of _yes_ and _please_ and _more_ into his ear. 

He would have come in his pants then and there, if it wasn’t for Krillin screaming their names from far away as he flew over the ocean looking for them. 

Everything came to a screeching halt. They looked at each other in silence, barely inches apart, and Yamcha didn’t know if he should laugh or cry. This would have been their only chance, and they both knew it.

Tien gave him a sad smile, and ran a hand through his hair one last time, combing his unruly locks back into place. Yamcha had to get up first, and once they were both standing he tried helping Tien smooth the wrinkles out of his shirt. They both had to dust sand off their bodies from rolling on the beach. 

“There you are!” Krillin said, landing on the beach a few minutes later when he finally found them. “What were you two bumblin’ idiots doing all the way out here? The food is ready!”

Yamcha put on his best smile and said "Take a look for yourself!" before levitating off the ground. 

"Holy shit!" Krillin said, impressed. "That’s awesome! Tien teach you how to do it?" 

"Yeah, man! I almost broke my neck a couple of times." 

"He gave me a good scare, there," Tien said as he joined the conversation. 

They soon made their way back to the house. Everyone had been waiting for them to start eating, so they were all understandably annoyed at their disappearing act. Bulma was particularly mad at Yamcha for taking off the shirt she'd bought for him, and Launch —who'd turned blonde after the food had been ready, thankfully— was getting increasingly aggressive due to hunger.

Things calmed down once everyone had food in their stomachs, although nobody seemed to notice Yamcha playing with his food, or Tien acting more stiff than usual. 

"This was fun! We should do this more often," Bulma said as the sun was setting over the horizon. She'd already popped their ride out of a capsule while Oolong and Puar finished saying their goodbyes. 

"Yeah… I wish Goku had been able to come, though," Krillin said, standing next to her and Launch. "I didn't know wedding preparations were such hard work!" 

"Don't worry, children," said Master Roshi. "We'll see him in a couple of months at the wedding. In the meantime, make sure to pick your gifts and what you're going to wear! Bulma, if you don't mind, I have a few suggestions for your dress…" 

Yamcha rolled his eyes as Bulma smacked the old man upside the head.

"Yamcha! Don't forget to say goodbye to Tien and Chiaotzu!" Puar said as they came out of the house with the aforementioned two in tow. 

"Right," Yamcha said with a nervous chuckle. "Stay awesome, little man," he said as he gave Chiaotzu a high-five. 

"Well," Tien said, realizing he was next. 

"Yeah," Yamcha said, scratching the back of his neck. 

Tien gave him a nod with his head, trying to keep a respectful distance, but Yamcha extended his hand to give him a handshake. Apparently, Tien thought he was going for a manly one-armed hug, so he attempted to grab his hand and pull his shoulder in, which in turn made Yamcha think Tien was going for a _full-on_ hug, so he extended both arms at the same time Tien pulled back as he realized his mistake, and the whole thing turned out to be the most awkward exchange in human history. 

"Oh my god, what the hell is _wrong_ with you two?" Krillin said as he walked in and saved the day by pulling them both into a threeway hug. "You guys are an embarrassment. You should be thankful I let myself be seen with the two of you."

"Shut it, cueball," Yamcha said as he patted Krillin's head affectionately. "I'm the coolest guy here and you _know_ it." 

"That's a hard sell, buddy," Krillin said with an amused smile. 

"Boys are weird as _fuck_," Launch said suddenly, getting a laugh out of everyone, even Tien. 

In that moment, as everyone laughed and the sunset bathed the scene in pink and orange hues, Yamcha let himself feel warm, happy and loved. He turned his head and found Tien right by his side, a tender look on his face aimed only at him. 

He didn't have all the answers, and he didn't know what the future would bring, but that day he'd learned a very important thing:

The secret to flying is letting yourself fall, so maybe, just maybe, there's still some hope for them, and for him.


End file.
